1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of interactive computer-based training. More particularly, the present invention relates to training call center agents at remote terminals networked to a database, based on verbal and/or textual interaction with simulated customers in dynamic scenarios.
2. Background Information
Customer service agents working in call centers are typically required to learn and internalize significant amounts of information, including various policies, procedures, products and systems, in order to competently perform their duties. In addition to the large amount of information, many modem service industries, such as the telecommunications industry, involve a high rate of change as a result of evolving technology, regulations and consumer appeal, further increasing the difficulty for the customer service agents to remain current. Moreover, customer service call centers historically suffer high turnover of personnel. The combination of these factors requires the expenditure of significant resources to continually train customer service agents to reach and maintain acceptable levels of performance.
The conventional approach to training call center agents includes providing the necessary substantive information regarding products, services, corporate policies and the like, teaching the appropriate customer communication techniques and implementing practice sessions to replicate (to the extent possible) actual conversations with customers. The typical practice sessions are conducted by trainer/instructor teams, in person. The training may include standard policies and parameters, but these are not consistently enforced or measured in an automated fashion. The consistency of training and measure of progress, from one trainee (or group of trainees) to another, is largely unknown. To simulate realistic customer interactions, many call center training operations use face-to-face role playing, which involves fellow trainees or trainers acting as customers. The interactions, as well as the accompanying feedback, are therefore inconsistent in quality and content. Such variance in training and feedback may result in disparate training results. Furthermore, statistical tracking of training results is not particularly useful because of the potential for inconsistency in the underlying training methodology.